Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club Brass Monkey
by Yorkshire Dales SC 30 Dec 2005 11:07 GMT
27 December 2005
Neil Marsden & Ian Dobson, joint winners of the Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey © Jackie Ferguson
Competitors for the inaugural Brass Monkey competition at Yorkshire Dales SC arrived to find an appropriately chilly force 3 to 4 North Easterly with heavy snow showers. A large contingent of visitors had travelled early to beat the snow and were queued up at the gate.
Visiting boats set the pace for the first lap of race one; Mike Senior and Chris Tattersall from Bolton SC made it look remarkably easy to sail a 49er and set a cracking pace, closely followed by Neil Marsden and Ian Dobson's 470 then Matt Mee and Graham Nelson in a Fireball, both from Blackpool and Fleetwood. In the middle of the fleet Jonny McGovern and Chris Robinson from Hollingworth Lake were keeping their GP14 on the pace.
Phil Whitehead from the home club recovered from a poor start and had some great offwind legs finding the angles just perfect for his asymmetric Vortex, and Neil Ferguson in a Contender looked very fast upwind.
Towards the end of the race the cold conditions started to affect reaction times; Terry Pressdee crashed and burned in a gust and then Senior and Tatersall capsized 50m from the finishing line. However Marsden / Dobson stayed in control to win the race from Whitehead and McGovern / Robinson.
After a very welcome free pie and peas lunch, race 2 started in glorious sunshine. The wind had eased slightly and positions at the first mark were very close with Marsden / Dobson just ahead of Whitehead and a large group of boats in contention. During the last lap the sunshine was obliterated by a very heavy snowstorm - the wind strengthened and veered 20 degrees as the visibility decreased to about 50m which led to a few navigational errors and changes in
position.
The overall results were very close with Marsden / Dobson (470) and Whitehead (Vortex) tying for first place, Neil Ferguson (Contender) second and Mee / Nelson (Fireball) tying with McGovern / Nelson (GP14) for third.
The snowy conditions led to a slippery and exciting drive down the lane with several drivers being relieved to reach the safety of the salted roads.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Type | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | Pts |
|---|
| 1st= | 470 | 814 | Neil Marsden | Ian Dobson | Blackpool | 3 |
| 1st= | Vortex Assy | 1045 | Phil Whitehead | | Yorkshire Dales | 3 |
| 3rd | Contender | 652 | Neil Ferguson | | Yorkshire Dales | 8 |
| 4th= | Fireball | | Matt Mee | Graham Nelson | Blackpool | 9 |
| 4th= | GP14 | 13855 | Jonny McGovern | Chris Robinson | Hollingworth Lake | 9 |